The Bevo Mill neighborhood’s namesake restaurant is open once more in south St. Louis.
The grand opening Sunday of the rebranded “Das Bevo” attracted a line of customers eager to see the newly renovated part of St. Louis history.
August Busch Sr. built Bevo Mill in 1916 and used it as a waypoint between his brewery and his family estate. The popular restaurant, at the intersection of Gravois Avenue and Morganford Road, closed in 2009. That came shortly after Anheuser-Busch was bought in 2008 by InBev and donated the building and its iconic Dutch-style windmill to the city. In recent years it operated as a catering company. The current owners, Pat and Carol Schuchard, purchased the property from the city last May.
Granite City residents Chris and Diane Vangel were among the first inside and said they’d probably be back.
“We always like to frequent places we have a good experience at. Like to stay local,” Chris Vangel said.
Just ahead of the Vangels in line was the Denny family from Clayton. Andrea Denny said they liked the Schuchards' other venues, the Boo Cat Club and the Majorette.
Some residents in the neighborhood are hoping for repeat visits by people from throughout the region.
“We are just so very excited that the Schuchards have come in and just very thoughtfully and meticulously renovated the building," said Gwen Murray, the executive board secretary of the Better Bevo Now neighborhood association. "It’s obvious that they care about it as much as we care about, and we kind of see it as a precursor to even better and more business and community growth in our neighborhood."
That sentiment was echoed by Amy Cobb, who lives down the street from the restaurant and stopped by for Sunday brunch.
“I hope it boosts the businesses in the area. I hope maybe crime might go down a little bit,” Cobb said. “I hear of (crime) every day, it seems like, so I’m trying to stay positive about it, but there is a lot, it does seem to be, recently.”
Das Bevo general manager Amanda Gaines, who was born and raised in the Bevo Mill neighborhood, also said she hopes the restaurant revitalizes the area.
“It is a great neighborhood. I feel like a lot of times though it just gets labeled in the wrong way,” Gaines said. “It’s a little hard to get to. It’s really deep down in south city, so when people come in and actually see what we’re doing here, they’re going to be very happy.”
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